This invention relates to a relay connector unit and an electronic device control system for controlling plural electronic devices by a single electronic control unit.
A vehicle such as a passenger car or a track incorporates a great variety of electric devices such as a motor constituting an air conditioner, a wiper and a power window. In order to transmit electric power and control signals, wire harnesses are arranged. The wire harness has plural electric wires and a connector for housing terminal metal fittings connected to the terminals of the electric wires. The electric wire is a “sheathed wire” provided with a conductive core and an insulating sheath for covering the core.
As the connector for the wire harness described above, used is a connector with a built-in electronic component (e.g. see Patent Reference 1), which incorporates circuit elements and others, in order to connect, via a network by data communication, an electronic device such as various actuators and an electronic control unit (ECU) such as a computer. Such a kind of connector with a built-in electronic component incorporates within its housing a lead frame with the circuit element.
The connector with built-in electronic component disclosed in Patent Reference 1 is supplied with a power source for driving the electronic element. To this end, in order that it is surely supplied with the power source by a simple configuration, it is attached to the middle position of the electric wire in a longitudinal direction so that the electric wires are derived from both ends in this direction to connect the connector to the electric wires. Further, plural connectors with built-in electronic component are attached apart from one another along the longitudinal direction of the electric wire so that they are fit to the various electronic devices to be connected to the network.
[Patent Reference 1] JP-A-2003-134720
However, in the case of using the connectors with a built-in electronic component described above, they must be matched with mating connector shapes different for the respective electronic devices. So, it is difficult to standardize the connectors with a built-in electronic component. In addition, most of the connectors on the side of the electronic devices are a male type so that the connectors with a built-in electronic component must be realized as a female type. The female type is very complicate in structure, and so disadvantageous in cost.
In order to obviate such inconvenience, as shown in FIG. 4, the wire harnesses 130 connected to plural electronic devices 110, respectively are directly connected to an ECU 120 so that the ECU 120 individually controls each electronic device 110. To a second ECU 121, the electronic devices 110 such as a park brake switch and a brake oil level switch are connected so that the information relative thereto is supplied to the ECU 120. In this way, the plural wire harnesses 130 are connected to the ECU 120 so that with an increase in the number of the electronic devices 110 to be controlled by the ECU 120, the ECU 120 is disadvantageously upsized.
Further, if the number of the electronic devices 110 loaded on a vehicle 5 increases, regardless of the processing capability of the ECU 120, plural ECUs must be mounted on the vehicle 5 and the plural electronic devices 110 are grouped to be connected to each ECU. This results in an increase in cost.